


465. Cold heart

by tveckling



Series: Dare to Write challenge [56]
Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, High Chaos, Something happened in Coldridge and Corvo doesn't Feel any longer, no happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 13:29:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11464563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tveckling/pseuds/tveckling
Summary: There is nothing burning in his veins, or in his mind, or in his heart, and he doesn't know what he should do if he doesn't go follow this.





	465. Cold heart

It happens gradually, over the course of six unending months. Corvo gets a key, and he gets a chance, and he makes his way to Samuel with blood weighing him down—he does it because he thinks he needs to. He accepts the mark from the Outsider, agrees to join the Loyalists and find and rescue Emily, not because he feels the righteous fire burning in his veins. Because he thinks that this is what he would have done, before. There is nothing burning in his veins, or in his mind, or in his heart, and he doesn't know what he should do if he doesn't go follow this.

It makes it easier for him to do what's necessary. The guards that happen to come in his way fall without exception, but the guards that are out of his view also stay out of his mind. There is no empathy in him, no reason for him to spare anyone who becomes trouble. The servants see him, so they die. He doesn't hesitate, and sometimes he wonders if he would have, before. He finds he can't really remember.

The heart takes him by surprise the first time he squeezes it and hears Jessamine's voice. He doesn't know what reaction the Outsider was expecting—surely he was waiting to see some emotional outburst or a tearful breakdown perhaps—but he doubts the Outsider would be satisfied if he was watching. Corvo simply looks at the heart, then continues on the task he has been given.

He wonders, though, every time he summons the heart to his hand and heard his old love's voice. Shouldn't it have made him cry? At least make his own heart ache? It should have summoned memories to his mind, situations and words that would fuel the rage he's pretending to feel. At least it should have made him long for her again. Shouldn't it?

But he has no time to dwell on questions of his mind or heart. He has a duty, and he will do anything to complete it. He goes through the pleasure house like a plague, leaving nothing but dead bodies behind, not caring about the blood that drips from his steps. When he opens the final door and Emily throws herself around his neck he's grateful for his mask. Without it she would have seen how he strained to remember how to smile.

It should be harder to avoid Emily, to use his powers and make sure he never has to face her. She's his daughter, after all, and should be the last source of happiness for him. That's what everything thinks, and that's what he lets them believe, he does want it to be true. When he hears her or sees her through his dark vision, when he hears the others talk about her and how proud he must be and how relieved he must be, wants it all to be true. He wants to be happy, to be relieved, to want to take his daughter in his arms and hug her simply because he loves her. He almost thinks he remembers feeling like that, before.

But he has a duty to do, enemies to kill, plots to destroy, and he has no time for anything else. While his body is straining from all the action he's putting it through his mind doesn't need to dwell on unpleasant things. He would have preferred to kill Sokolov, but apparently they have need of him so Corvo chokes him out and hefts the unconscious body over his shoulder. The woman Sokolov was experimenting on is left in her cage; what use is there to free someone who will die the next day, after all.

Jessamine—he asked the Outsider, because he was curious, and it is Jessamine's spirit, or something close to it—doesn't speak to him as she used to. It doesn't bother him. It feels like it should, but there are so many things he guess he should feel more about so what is one more. She remarks on the people he kills, on the fact that he doesn't even try to leave someone alive, and Corvo starts to tune her out. If she wasn't useful in locating runes and bonecharms he would have stopped summoning her entirely, because her cold words are nothing but a bother to listen to.

He does ask the Outsider about it, asks if there is some other way or some other tool that can locate the useful items instead. Or maybe the Outsider can take away Jessamine's voice so that it doesn't bother him during his missions. Corvo looks into the Outsider's face and isn't sure what he sees, if it is amusement or disgust.

In the end the Outsider shakes his head. "This is the only tool that can provide what you seek," he says, his tone as unreadable as his face. "You do so fascinate me, Corvo."

Corvo rolls his eyes and would have said something about the Outsider maybe trying to be a little more helpful if he was so fascinated, but he's thrown out of the Void before he can get a word out. Irritation coils in his stomach at that, and Corvo mutters instead about stopping conversations when convenient.

"At least you still feel something," Jessamine's voice whispers. Corvo had forgotten he still had the heart in his hand. "I wonder if we should be grateful for that, or if we would be better of if you stopped feeling anything at all. It's hard to know at this point."

Corvo ignores her. He has a mission to complete, one that just got more annoying. Havelock and the others had talked about the perks of the party demanding masks, but Corvo can't help but feeling that it makes his task far more complicated. For a while he tries to decide what to do, how to best proceed. The nobles walking around the building only reminds him of old distaste, which helps his decision.

He cleans out the mansion, one room at a time, killing everyone in it before moving on to the next. His Void-given abilities are wonderfully useful here, as the corpses he make simply turns to ash before they hit the ground. Even if someone were to wander into a room he's emptied out there would be no bodies to discover, no reason to raise alarm. Corvo has to admit he would be troubled if all the guards and overseers in the Boyle's mansion were to rush him at once. It takes more time to do it this way, one room at a time, but Corvo sees it as practical. Absolutely no one will be left to remember what he did, how he did it, or what he looked like. And eventually, he thinks, he will have killed his target.

When he leaves the mansion is completely silent but for the various audiographs still playing festive music. There is not one body to be found.

"Distasteful," Jessamine whispers. "Such a awful waste of human life."

"Practical," Corvo answers.

He hasn't wondered about what he should or shouldn't be feeling for quite some time, but when he sinks the blade in the Lord Regent's flesh, when he hears the dying sounds of the man who orchestrated the downfall of Corvo's whole life, he begins to wonder again. There should be satisfaction, or relief, or giddiness, or grief, or any number of emotions. As he looks down on the body at his feet there is nothing, nothing but cold emptiness.

During the trip back to the base Corvo allows himself to think. He's done it all now; Emily's place on the throne is cleared, and his work is done. The question now is what he will do next. For a moment he thinks about staying on as Emily's protector, but he quickly dismisses the thought. He can't feel anything but uneasy around the child, and that would lead to a distraction that might cause a break in his duty, and at least he knows he must not fail in his duty. Not again. No, it will be much better if someone else, someone who cares for Emily, will take the place of Lord Protector.

At least he has learned how to fake a smile, he thinks as Emily throws herself around his neck when he opens the door to the pub. He would still prefer to have the mask conceal his face, but he knows he shouldn't wear it when he isn't out on a mission. Instead he breaths out when Emily releases his hand and goes to her drawings.

He is almost grateful for the glass of wine Havelock hands him. It must have gone to his head very quickly, he thinks when his vision starts going blurry not more than a couple minutes later, but it's not that strange. He hasn't tasted alcohol since before he broke out of prison, since before Jessamine was murdered, and it's really no wonder his body isn't as used to the drink as it should be. It's shameful, though, how he doesn't even manage to make it all the way to his bed, is his last thought before everything goes black.

When he wakes up again he can barely open his eyes, and he finds that he can't move his body at all. Havelock, Martin, Pendleton, they're all talking above him. Then comes Samuel, and the resulting conversation makes it clear to Corvo what had happened. It was a good plan, to poison him. They had no need of him any longer, after all, what with all the powerful enemies out of the way. It would certainly have made a good ending on his dilemma about his own future.

Samuel mutters about risk and only giving him half the poison, and if he could Corvo would have agreed with him. There was really no reason for the old boatsman to interfere in such a practical plan. By interfering he had just made a mess of things.

But not to worry, Corvo thinks as he closes his eyes again, he has no desire to participate in a complicated mess of a plan. If he has any will left he will not open his eyes again. The time for the old Lord Protector is over, and he has no more duty.


End file.
